why doesn't my plain text password show a plain text value?

I'm using openLDAP 2.0.11 without sasl support or
SSL. I add users with plain text passwords, the value in the ldif
file is plain text and I'm not using any encryption method as far as I can
tell. But when I check the values in the data
base after a record has been added I see the password having some other
nonsensical value as if it's been encrypted. Does anyone have any
idea what's happening? I don't mind it and rather prefer it this way but
I'm curios. I've seen the same thing whether I use openLDAP client
commands or a Java program.